Science Breakthrough: Plate Armor is Heavy

[Ranorak]

Well, obviously they weren't Master in Heavy Armour.

"Days and weeks of constant use make wearing heavy armor tolerable, but not comfortable. You have learned to adapt to its weight and use it in combat. As a Master of Heavy Armor, your plate mail no longer encumbers you at all when you are running or swimming."

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

That degree in the science of the bleedin obvious really pays for itself!

 

[ph0b0s123]

Grant money must be pretty easy to come by nowadays....

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Ugh, my brain hurts...
Ok guys, here's a real scientist's assessment of this grand discovery:
1) It's bad science. It's not not-scientific, it's just bad. Cargo cult science, really...
2) Yes, the result is mindblowingly obvious. While it's nice to see an obvious hypothesis as "full plate armor restricts movement" being put to the test Mythbusters style (coming up next week: "swimming in a lake will make your hair wet"), the result is of little use. Yes, wearing heavy things restricts movement, obvious. The exact mechanisms by which this happens are interesting, such as the breastplate restricting breathing, but also not exactly a great discovery.
3) The conclusion is...argh. You generally want to have some sort of predictive or applicative use of your result in there. What does it mean? What future work could be done? How is this useful to industry X who funded your work? Well, there's nothing you can actually say about "plate armor restricts movement."
4) The sample size is quite small. While that's not a huge problem given the nature of the experiment, it's not exactly good science either. When it comes to sample size, you want as many as your budget allows.
5) A much more interesting experiment would be whether the time required to complete a mixed terrain run, as well as average heartbeat and required oxygen decrease over time (that would be several months) as the subjects are trained by an expert in the proper use of the armor. At least this would tell us whether some of the medieval tales of knight fightin' are actually feasible, given that they had to have trained extensively.

 

[Evilsanta]

Err...Ok, And this was not obvious before?

I wonder how this amazing discovery will revolutionise the battlde field the next coming years...

 

[rayen020]

a truly great example of the power of SCIENCE!!!
/sarcasm

Actually i just think they're getting bored now that the US goverment took away their space toys so now the have to play with their old boring castle and knights set.
/actually i guess sarcasm is ending here ^^;

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Actually i just think they're getting bored now that the US goverment took away their space toys so now the have to play with their old boring castle and knights set.
/actually i guess sarcasm is ending here ^^;

Uhm, the "scientists" in question are British...

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Escapist, please give us more useless news.
Please give use news about someone stating something so obvious like "if you carry something really heavy, you will be get tired faster than if you don't carry anything".

The next news should be "scientists discovered we need to drink water if we are thirsty".
Give use more useless kilobytes of information.

 

[K V MAN]

breaking news: water is wet. Also: ice is cold

oh my god this changes every thing, quick calculate his discovery in the meaning of life machine.


OT: really? well now we know what happens to scientists when they get really really bored.

 

[maninahat]

You know, I think the scientists knew that armour is heavy before they did the study. I imagine the study had a more specific aim than telling us what we already know. Something about examining the effects of weight displacement across different sections of the body, for instance.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Our next research idea: Does the sun really rise in the east and set in the west, or does it reverse set in the east and reverse rise in the west? This research experiment will need six months of time and $3 million to get an accurate result.

 

[dashiz94]

Huh, and people wonder why the Crusades MASSIVELY failed.

 

[dashiz94]

But... stat points even out the added weight..? Right? Right!??

Pfft, no. Perks are where it's at.

 

[Archemetis]

Well that has just blown my perception of reality entirely...

I mean how can I go on living in a world where Knights get tired because their armour heavy...

Seriously, how do we as a species justify wasting money on 'scientific' studies about things that a guy with a suit of armour cold have told us?

I can see how it went:

'Hey, how heavy do you think this armour is?'

'I don't know...'

*Lifts*

'Pretty heavy... I'm tired man.'

*Proceed to waste months worth of time and money playing Pac-man.*

 

[Elate]

See, its experiments like these that annoy the crap out of me. I don't want my tax dollars going to fund this stuff. Its -obvious-.

Well I guess you're in luck, because this is in England. Well done.

OT: I've BEEN to that armoury, and worn the chain mail there. It feels like someone is sitting on your shoulders all the time.

 

[Buizel91]

Well! I did not know this! I must be really thick for thinking people who wore NO armour didn't get tired as often as people who wore GIGANTIC SUITS OF METAL. /Sarcasm

Can't we research something more beneficial? Like Hover Boards?

 

[Kakita]

So what does that say for me as an active member of the SCA whose plate armor weighs close to 20 (Helm requirements make it heavier by default) and doesn't make me tired after close to six hours of fighting in Arizona.

Very little of the plate's weight goes straight on the legs. The most you have is that the leg plates themselves put some weight on the legs when your leg is lifted and in a position where some of the armor can sit on the thigh and hang from the knee. But properly strapped armor? The Helm is on the head, which is annoying on the neck if you're not used to it. The arms and the chest are strapped to the shoulders/torso as a whole. The Legs are strapped to a belt and thus being carried on the hips.

They're deluding themselves or strapping the armor wrong or, as others have said, picking people who aren't used to it and don't have the endurance.

 

[Black Watch]

I am glad that scientists in the UK have spent so much time and money on research of such utmost importance. This scientific break though will aid us in the generations to come.

 

[mexicola]

Who the fuck wasted money and/or effort on this research? So you scientifically discovered that 100 pound armour is heavy. Whoopty fucking doo another life's mystery solved.

 

[DRTJR]

The sudy was probibly on the Effects it would have, It's easier to walk unburded then it is in Full plate. So the study was on how Full plate tires sombody rather than a suit of armour is heavy.